Home »
Matthew 20:1-16 Sermon Commentary
Proper 20A
Fred Craddock once observed that there are two kinds of sermons that are difficult to hear: bad sermons and good sermons. I think we know what he means on the latter. Because sometimes the good sermon is the one that gets under people’s skin and bothers them. Sometimes we preachers even want this, which is…
Psalm 145:1-8 Sermon Commentary
Proper 20A
Yogi Berra is the one who famously coined the phrase “It’s déjà vu all over again” but of late it is the Revised Common Lectionary that seems to be making us live that out. As I looked at the Psalm selection for the Year A Proper 20 or the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, I knew…
Philippians 1:21-30 Sermon Commentary
Proper 20A
One of the most lyrical expressions of Christian hope is embedded in the first Question and Answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. There Reformed Christians answer the question, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” with the lovely, “That I am not my own, but belong in body and soul, in life and…
Exodus 16:2-15 Sermon Commentary
Proper 20A
This text is about grumbling and grace. To preach it powerfully, we need to hold those two opposites in dynamic tension. On the one hand, it is easy to be so tough on Israel’s ungrateful grumbling that we miss how completely human their complaints were. If we do that, we won’t see ourselves in them. …
Commentary posted on September 14, 2020
Proper 20A Sermon Commentary
The Proper 20A Sermon Starters include commentary and illustration ideas for Matthew 20:1-16 from the Lectionary Gospel; Exodus 16:2-15 from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 145:1-8 from the Lectionary Psalms; and Philippians 1:21-30 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: Epistle lesson: Lectionary Epistle: Q&A 57 (Lord’s Day 22)